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Cassy didn't come back the next day or the day after with no explanation, no message, no call but just absence.
"Where is she?" Caleb aske, his voice was calm, too calm.
Adrian looked up from his tablet. "She filed for leave."
Silence.
"For how long?" Caleb asked.
Adrian hesitated. "…Indefinite."
That word didn't sit well. Caleb's jaw tightened slightly. "She doesn't make decisions like that."
Adrian didn't argue because he was right which meant something had changed.
Across the city, Cassy sat by the window of a quiet café, a cup of coffee untouched in front of her, she wasn't working, wasn't reading, wasn't doing anything but just… thinking.
"I should've seen it," she whispered to herself not the engagement, not Veronica but the silence the things he didn't say, the things he chose to say later annd somehow that hurts more.
Her phone buzzed. Adrian. She stared at it and didn't answer. It buzzed again, this time a message. He's asking for you.
Cassy closed her eyes briefly, of course he was but that didn't change anything.
Back at the office, Caleb stood by the window, same place, same view but different feeling.
"She's not answering," Adrian said carefully.
Caleb didn't respond because he already knew that.
"She probably needs time," Adrian added.
"No," Caleb said quietly. A pause. Then, "She's creating distance." And that was worse because distance wasn't something he could fix quickly, it wasn't something he could control, it was something she chose and she was choosing it again.
"Do you want me to—" Adrian started.
"No." Immediate. "Let her be." But the way he said it didn't sound like acceptance, it sounded like restraint.
Days passed, Cassy didn't come back, didn't call and didn't explain until she did.
Monday morning. 9:00 AM. Right on time. The office froze when she walked in because she looked the same but she didn't feel the same.
"Good morning," she said calmly, professional, polite and untouchable.
Adrian blinked. "…You're back."
Cassy nodded. "Yes." No explanation, no apology, just presence and that alone changed everything.
"Miss Williams."
She turned, Caleb stood at his office door watching her the same way he always did but this time she didn't hesitate.
"Yes, Mr. Garcia?" There it was again, Mr. Garcia, the distance, the line.
"Come in," he said.
Inside, the door closed and the silence that followed was different from before, it wasn't full, it wasn't tense, it was controlled.
Cassy stood in front of his desk, calm and still. "I've updated all pending work," she said. "Everything is in order."
Caleb didn't look at the files, he looked at her. "You left." Direct.
Cassy nodded. "I took leave."
"That's not what I meant."
Silence. She met his gaze. "I needed space." A pause. Then, "I took it." Clear, simple and final.
Caleb stepped closer. "And now?"
Cassy didn't move. "Now," she said softly, "I'm back to work." That answer, that tone and that distance, it wasn't what he expected because she didn't come back emotional, didn't come back confused but she came back decided.
And that was harder to break.
Caleb's voice lowered. "…That's it?"
Cassy held his gaze. "For now."
Silence because this version of her wasn't the one he knew and for the first time he didn't know how to reach her.